Posted By: Double Naught Spy
Solunar Periods and Hog Hunting - 01/11/20 12:48 AM
I went through all my video information from 2019 and looked at the times I had recorded for hog observations and compared them against the solunar tables for 2019. As best as I can tell from my information, solunar periods have no discernible impact on when hogs are "moving" and that not hunting during non-solunar periods would be a huge mistake. In fact, most of the observations (and kills) were during non-solunar periods.
The solunar tables designate major periods (2 hours each) and minor periods (1 hour each) per day when it is hypothesized celestial influences will get animals 'moving.' There has only been limited research on this that I can find relative to hunting and nothing relative to hog hunting. Hence why I decided to go through all my data from last year and see if there is or isn't something to solunar hunting of hogs. Over the years, I have encountered people who swear by solunar tables and some who plan their hunts according to solunar patterns, in many cases NOT going hunting if the solunar periods are not favorable.
On any given day, solunar periods comprise 6 hours. There are some days where a major period or minor period may be missing, but basically, just less than 1/4 of the day (averaged) is under a solunar period when animals are moving and are considered the best times to hunt.
I made 102 observations on hogs when I hunted them in 2019 from 76 nights of hunting where I saw hogs. That is out of 160-170 total nights of total. A hog "observation" was any uniquely identified time I saw (and usually went after) hogs. If I watched a single field during the course of 8 hours and went after hogs 3 different times, then that would be 3 observations. Of those observations, 16 were during solunar major periods, 8 were during minor solunar periods and 78 were during non-solunar periods. In other words, slightly less than 1/4 of the observations were during solunar periods and slightly more than 3/4 were during non-solunar periods. This seems to correlate well with the fact that solunar periods only comprise slightly less than 1/4 of the time and non-solular periods comprise just over 3/4 of the time. This indicates to me that solunar periods have no real bearing on hog hunting. Either you are where the hogs are doing their thing or you are not. This should really come as no surprise given that hogs are actually moving (on the move, feeding/foraging) any time they are not sleeping and they don't bed except when they are sleeping (or nursing in the case of very young piglets).
I know a lot of people swear by solunar tables and that is fine. If they work for you and seem to help with your hunting success, that is great. However, I would strongly suggest that you should not avoid hunting just because the solunar tables are not favorable. The hogs are more than plenty active outside of the periods. What I found from my hunting is that I was as likely to get on hogs during non-solunar periods as I was during solunar periods.
The solunar tables designate major periods (2 hours each) and minor periods (1 hour each) per day when it is hypothesized celestial influences will get animals 'moving.' There has only been limited research on this that I can find relative to hunting and nothing relative to hog hunting. Hence why I decided to go through all my data from last year and see if there is or isn't something to solunar hunting of hogs. Over the years, I have encountered people who swear by solunar tables and some who plan their hunts according to solunar patterns, in many cases NOT going hunting if the solunar periods are not favorable.
On any given day, solunar periods comprise 6 hours. There are some days where a major period or minor period may be missing, but basically, just less than 1/4 of the day (averaged) is under a solunar period when animals are moving and are considered the best times to hunt.
I made 102 observations on hogs when I hunted them in 2019 from 76 nights of hunting where I saw hogs. That is out of 160-170 total nights of total. A hog "observation" was any uniquely identified time I saw (and usually went after) hogs. If I watched a single field during the course of 8 hours and went after hogs 3 different times, then that would be 3 observations. Of those observations, 16 were during solunar major periods, 8 were during minor solunar periods and 78 were during non-solunar periods. In other words, slightly less than 1/4 of the observations were during solunar periods and slightly more than 3/4 were during non-solunar periods. This seems to correlate well with the fact that solunar periods only comprise slightly less than 1/4 of the time and non-solular periods comprise just over 3/4 of the time. This indicates to me that solunar periods have no real bearing on hog hunting. Either you are where the hogs are doing their thing or you are not. This should really come as no surprise given that hogs are actually moving (on the move, feeding/foraging) any time they are not sleeping and they don't bed except when they are sleeping (or nursing in the case of very young piglets).
I know a lot of people swear by solunar tables and that is fine. If they work for you and seem to help with your hunting success, that is great. However, I would strongly suggest that you should not avoid hunting just because the solunar tables are not favorable. The hogs are more than plenty active outside of the periods. What I found from my hunting is that I was as likely to get on hogs during non-solunar periods as I was during solunar periods.